Results tagged ‘ Eric Collins ’

Quite a debut for Mr. Barajas last night…I know that we expected him to provide a boost to the offense from the behind the plate, but hard to imagine he would have done what he did yesterday that helped lead to a win. And the fact that he grew up loving Vin Scully makes it even more cool for him to have a debut like that.

And, it’s actually nice that A.J. Ellis got to make the trip to Milwaukee, where he makes his offseason home, and spend a few days there with his wife and kids before reporting back to Triple-A. For those who hadn’t read about it when it happened, he actually watched the birth of his son via webcam earlier this year because he is that dedicated to this organization. Now, he’s getting a little time with the little guy and you’d be hard pressed to find a nicer person in baseball than A.J.

Also, congrats are in order to Eric Collins, who was named one of the Big 10 Network’s lead football broadcasters today.

And finally, for those still interested in the Inside the Dodgers Tour, please see below for more details. Right now, I believe we only have about nine people, which I think makes it clear that this doesn’t really need to be an annual event. But, I’m happy to host those nine people and anyone else interested should email bretts@ladodgers.com

What a tough game last night and a hard thing to watch…I’m sure many of you longtime fans had immediate flashback to Kaz Ishii and fortunately, the CT scan came back clear, so hopefully Kuroda will be okay. It’s a scary game and sometimes we can lose sight of that until we’re jarred back to reality.

On a much more positive note, Eric Collins is in town on an ESPN assignment so he hit up a game for the Single-A Inland Empire 66ers and weighed in over at Psychollingy.

Yesterday marked the 55th anniversary of Tommy Lasorda’s Major League debut as a left-handed pitcher with the Brooklyn Dodgers. On Aug. 5, 1954, Lasorda pitched three innings in relief at Ebbets Field against the St. Louis Cardinals. The first base umpire that afternoon was Lon Warneke, a former pitcher from 1930-45 who became a Major League umpire in 1949.

Another future Dodger Hall of Fame manager, Walter Alston, crossed paths with Warneke in his only Major League plate appearance on Sept. 27, 1936. Alston was a former reserve first baseman for the Cardinals. Warneke was pitching for the Chicago Cubs when Alston stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter. Alston narrowly missed a home run on a long foul ball and he eventually struck out. When Alston announced his retirement as Dodger manager on Sept. 27, 1976, it was the 40th anniversary of his at-bat against Warneke.

It appears Vin Scully has made it official, telling the Times’ Bill Plaschke that he plans to be back next season. It seems he also suggested that next year will be his last, but obviously that’s a bridge to be crossed at a later time. As my boss, Charles Steinberg, said in the story, we certainly want to honor him in some way or another but we want to make sure that its in line with his own wishes. But rest assured, it’ll be something to remember. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s the best news we can ask for as Dodger fans.

Meanwhile, last night’s game in St. Louis obviously got out of hand, so much so that Mark Loretta wound up pitching for one-third of an inning. Other Dodger position players to have pitched for us in Los Angeles are Jim Hickman (6/23/67), Danny Heep (7/30/88), Jeff Hamilton (4/15/89), Mickey Hatcher just two weeks later (5/4/89), Chris Donnels (5/5/01), and Robin Ventura (6/25/04).

Eric Collins, who called the game last night alongside Steve Lyons, weighed in over at Psychollingy regarding Loretta’s appearance and much more.

And finally, for those who might have missed it, I thought Phil Wallace wrote a very interesting breakdown of the team and our current situation a few days ago over at LA Observed.

Lineup to come later in the day…

UPDATE:

Lineup:

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Manny, LF

Ethier, RF

Blake, 3B

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

Kemp, CF (His In My Own Words debuts tonight on PRIME TICKET at 8 p.m. or right after the game)

Looks like this morning, when I posted Eric Collins’ blog about yesterday’s Dodgers Dream Foundation golf tourney, I accidentally posted it to Inside the Dodgers. My bad. It’s been re-posted over at Psychollingy.

In the meantime, here’s tonight’s lineup:

Pierre, LF

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Ethier, RF

Martin, C

Loney, 1B

Kemp, CF

Blake, 3B

Kershaw, P

And in case you haven’t heard, X Paul is headed to the DL with a skin infection to his left leg, so Jamie Hoffmann is headed to the big leagues. Great story…a non-drafted free agent makes it all the way to the Majors. Great guy, too, so we’re very happy for him.

I hope that many of you made it out here last night for the game between Korea and Venezuela…while it was not the closest of games, the atmosphere was really, really cool and I’d expect tonight to be even better, with the US squaring off against Japan for the right to play Korea for the title tomorrow night. They’re practicing the Opening Ceremony of tomorrow night’s game right now on the field outside my office and it gave me chills just watching it without the stadium full. I can only imagine how exciting it’ll be tomorrow.

As many of you noted in the comments yesterday, we hired Eric Collins from ESPN to join Steve Lyons on the 38 games or so that Vin doesn’t do. Eric did the Olympics for NBC and impressed every person in came in contact with throughout the process and we’re excited to have him on board. We hope you’ll all enjoy listening to him and Steve and you’ll even get the chance to interact with them, as they plan to host a blog. More details on that to follow…

Back in Arizona, lots still going on. Today’s game can be seen on KCAL 9 with Vin calling the game from Camelback Ranch at 1 p.m. It’s his last game of the spring (from Arizona, that is) so be sure to tune in. And if you’re not in front of your TV, KABC 790 has the game, too (and the great Sunday night show with Ken Levine and Josh Suchon).

If you’re up for it, you can watch/listen to baseball all day long! Hope to see you all here tonight or tomorrow for the final…let’s get behind the U.S. and bring the trophy back home.

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